Management of attribute data

Abstract

A system for managing attribute data provides reference characters to define attribute strings, and thereby provide compressed attribute data. The reference characters may be configured in a tree structure with the reference characters repeatable and configured in parallel resizeable arrays to define attribute data, for example, XML attribute tags. A translation table is provided for use in translating the reference characters associated with the attribute strings. A management server in connection with a user interface provides for management of network resources, including storage devices, associated with the attribute data. The storage devices may be configured to include logical units, with the reference characters repeated and used to represent redundant strings in the different logical units.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for managing attribute data relating to one or more network resources, the method comprising: 
 compressing the attribute data associated with the one or more network resources using reference characters representing attribute data strings.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the compressing comprises configuring attribute data in a tree structure accessible in compressed form.  
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the compressing comprises representing the attribute data strings using parallel reference characters comprising integer values.  
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2  further comprising linking attribute data relating to components of the one or more network resources to define a relationship forming the tree structure.  
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4  wherein the attribute data strings comprise XML data, and the components comprise one or more logical units within one or more storage devices.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1  further comprising translating the reference characters to provide the attribute data strings.  
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1  further comprising updating the compressed attribute data.  
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the attribute data comprises repetitive data.  
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8  wherein the repetitive data relates to logical unit data.  
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the one or more network resources comprise one or more storage devices and further comprising obtaining data from a plurality of host agents associated with one or more logical units of the one or more storage devices having logical unit data stored therein, the logical unit data provided in XML format.  
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the one or more network resources comprise one or more storage devices configured as a storage area network.  
     
     
         12 . A method for managing attribute data relating to one or more storage devices, the method comprising: 
 receiving attribute data relating to the one or more storage devices;    assigning reference characters to the attribute data; and    configuring a representation of the attribute data using the assigned reference characters for subsequently accessing the attribute data to determine attributes for the one or more storage devices.    
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12  wherein the configuring comprises arranging the reference characters in parallel and corresponding to attribute data strings.  
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13  wherein the attribute data comprises attribute identifiers.  
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 12  wherein the attribute data is received in hierarchical order and wherein the configuring comprises arranging the attribute data into a tree structure based upon the hierarchical order.  
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 12  wherein the attribute data comprises XML data.  
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 12  wherein the reference characters comprise integers.  
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 12  further comprising translating the reference characters to provide the attribute data for access by a user.  
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 12  wherein the one or more storage devices comprise one or more logical units and the attribute data is associated with the logical units.  
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 12  further comprising storing the attribute data in a format accessible by a user.  
     
     
         21 . A system for managing attribute data comprising: 
 a controller for receiving attribute data from one or more network resources and compressing the received attribute data using reference characters representing attribute strings accessible in compressed form; and    a user interface for accessing the compressed attribute data.    
     
     
         22 . The system according to  claim 21  wherein the controller comprises a translation table for translating the reference characters forming the compressed attribute data for access via the user interface.  
     
     
         23 . The system according to  claim 22  wherein the reference characters comprises integers and the attribute data comprises XML data, and wherein the translation table provides translation of the integers to XML attribute strings.  
     
     
         24 . The system according to  claim 21  further comprising a management server implementing the controller and configured to store the attribute data in a database for access via the user interface.  
     
     
         25 . The system according to  claim 21  wherein the one or more network resources comprises one or more storage devices and further comprising one or more host agents for obtaining attribute data from the one or more storage devices.  
     
     
         26 . The system according to  claim 25  wherein the one or more storage devices comprise one or more logical units and wherein the one or more host agents are configured to obtain attribute data from the one or more logical units.